


Everything He Always Wanted

by houdini74



Series: Clint and Marcy [2]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Boys In Love, Committed Relationship, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 04:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19040863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: A continuation of Patrick and David's visit to Patrick's parents, this time from Clint's perspective.





	Everything He Always Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> I found Clint a lot harder to write than Marcy - in the show, Marcy carries most of the dialogue, so it's more difficult to figure Clint's character. Anyway, here's my attempt at writing Clint's thoughts about Patrick and David.

David is standing by the fireplace, looking at the photos on the mantel when Clint comes into the living room. As always, David stands out, black clothes, black hair, gold rings on his left hand flashing as he twists them absently. Not for the first time, Clint wonders what his son had thought when he met David Rose. He can understand why Patrick was so drawn to David and yet he also admires his son’s courage, not just in facing new truths about himself but in allowing himself to be attracted to someone like David, someone so different from anyone either of them have ever known.

Clint has the feeling that David isn’t someone who lets himself feel comfortable very often, so he’s happy to see that David’s nervousness has eased since he and Patrick arrived two days ago. He smiles more readily for Marcy and himself and he’s less careful with both his words and his gestures. He joins David and points to one of the photos.

“That’s when Patrick caught his first fish by himself. He was so proud.” Patrick is about seven years old in the photo, holding a fishing rod and a small fish.

“Hmm. I didn’t know that was a thing he did?”

“We used to go all the time when he was younger.” They had gone almost every weekend until one day they didn’t. Some of his fondest memories are of the two of them together at the river, talking and spending time together. When they’d stopped going, he’d just put it down to Patrick’s interests changing as a teenager and to his new relationship with Rachel. But now he wonders if Patrick had been unconsciously avoiding their time together, not wanting to risk the possibility of an uncomfortable conversation. Maybe he should have pushed him then, encouraged him to talk more than he had. He shoves away his regrets about letting those moments slip away, looking at the photograph again.

He remembers a younger Patrick sharing his excitement when he caught a fish, as he learned to play the guitar, about playing baseball. He recalls the smile that would light up his face, the way his eyes danced with mischief or enthusiasm. For a long time, he had wondered what had happened to that boy who had thrown himself into things so joyously, but now he thinks he can see him again when he looks at his son.

David must have sensed a bit of regret in his voice.“You should ask him to go with you again, I think he’d like that.” 

“You could come with us.” Even though he can barely imagine the man in front of him, in his designer black and white sweater, going outside, let alone holding a fishing rod, he wants him to know that he is included.

David grins and shakes his head. “No. Nope. But you should ask him.” Despite his denials, Clint can see that David would go fishing with them. That even though he would probably hate every moment of it, if Patrick asked him to, he would go.

He’s not sure he understands David Rose. Over the past two days since they’d arrived, David has changed his clothes five times, each time into a different black and white outfit. This morning, he’s wearing a black sweater that has white stripes along the arms and shoulders and a pair of the tightest jeans he’s ever seen. 

David reminds him of a monochromatic peacock, whose showy black and white plumage is designed to draw attention, but who gets embarrassed and defensive if anyone examines him too closely. But while he doesn’t understand him, he does know one thing. This complicated and dramatic man is deeply in love with his son and makes him happier than Clint has ever seen. And Patrick loves him equally deeply in return.

Patrick and Marcy come in from the kitchen where they’d been tidying up from breakfast. As soon as Patrick comes into the room, Clint can see the connection between his son and his fiance as though an invisible thread joins them together. He sees David relax imperceptibly, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He watches Patrick go to David and put his arm around his shoulders, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

David leans into Patrick’s touch for a moment before reaching over and picking up one of the pictures from the mantel.

“I didn’t know you coached Patrick’s Little League Team, Mr...Clint.” Both he and Marcy had told David to call them by their first names and it makes him smile to see David struggle with it. 

“Yes, I coached him for three years. We even won the regional championship one year.” 

“I’m guessing you don’t have a photo of your Little League team?” Patrick’s voice is teasing as David shakes his head.

“Since I only played one game, I think I missed team photo day.” They both laugh. 

“Did Patrick tell you that I was the VIP for his team this year? I hit the winning touchdown.”

“Home run.” Patrick’s voice is full of affection. 

They had worried, he and Marcy, when Patrick had left so suddenly two years ago. It isn’t as though they have been estranged, but he feels like David has given him another chance for a relationship with Patrick. He still feels a stab of hurt at the thought that Patrick had hidden who he was from them for so long, but there is no question his son has never been happier. Even as they talked regularly on the phone, the longer Patrick had stayed away, the greater his fear had been that his relationship with his son was irretrievably lost, that they would continue to grow further and further apart. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to help us with the fence?” A section of the fence in the backyard is starting to collapse and he and Patrick plan to tackle it this afternoon. He can tell by the tone in Patrick’s voice that he’s not serious as he teases David. 

“Okay, Givenchy is not meant for manual labor.” David gestures at his clothes. “Besides, Marcy promised to show me your baby pictures.”

As Patrick makes a face at the thought of the stories Marcy might reveal to his fiance, Clint hides a smile. He enjoys the back and forth between the two of them, imagining the good-natured teasing Patrick will have to endure after Marcy takes David through through her photo albums.

An hour or so later, they’ve made a good start on the fence. From the back porch he can hear Marcy telling David stories about Patrick’s childhood.

_“...he loved those yellow rubber boots. For about six months, he wouldn’t take them off. He even wanted to wear them in the bathtub!”_

He looks at his son. Patrick rolls his eyes and shrugs as they overhear the story Marcy is sharing. Clint grins at him sympathetically, and they turn back to the fence. They’ve found a rhythm as they work together, Patrick is holding the new fence boards in place as he screws them down. 

“I’ve missed this.” He clears his throat a bit awkwardly and smiles at his son.

Patrick smiles back at him. He rests the board he’s holding against the fence and turns to face him. “Me too. I’m sorry I stayed away so long.” Clint can see the emotions flicker across Patrick’s face, regret, sadness, but also a tiny flash of defiance. 

Clint shakes his head, not wanting to get into apologies and recriminations from either of them. “He’s good for you.” He nods to the porch where Marcy and David are seated together on the outdoor couch, heads bent together over the photo album. The two of them have been thick as thieves all weekend. As much as Clint likes David, Marcy adores him and she and David have spent a lot of their time together sharing ideas for the wedding and talking about Patrick’s childhood.

_“...he insisted on the adult sized guitar. Took him three years to grow into it…"_

Patrick blushes and then grins a bit self-consciously. “I know. We’re good for each other.” He picks up the fence board again and holds it in place. They work in silence for awhile, the fence is almost finished. Clint thinks about the photo he and David were looking at earlier.

“The next time you come, we should go fishing.”

“I’d like that.”

“David, too, if he wants.”

His son laughs. “If you can convince him, I’d like to see that.” They finish the fence and put their tools away before joining David and Marcy on the back porch. Patrick squeezes onto the couch beside David and raises his eyebrows at him. “Have you seen all my embarrassing childhood pictures?”

“Your mom says I can keep this one. You look very cute.” He shows the photo to Patrick. Patrick’s about fifteen, he’s leaning against the fence that they’ve just finished rebuilding. His hair is longer and curly, it’s falling into his eyes and he’s grinning widely. Patrick smiles at his fiance, the look on his face mirroring the one in the photograph.

“She also says that I can use any photos I want to show during the wedding reception. So we’ll definitely be starting with this one.” David holds out a second photo, this time of Patrick at about two years old, sitting naked in the bathtub, wearing a pair of bright yellow rubber boots.

“Uh huh. And what will you be contributing to this project?”

“I was thinking a curated selection of photos from my time as a child model.”

“Tell you what.” There’s a glint in Patrick’s eye as he responds to David. “I’ll talk to your mom and Alexis to see what photos they have and you can have free reign of my mom’s albums.” 

Something in Patrick’s voice pulls David up short. “Wait, you’ve already talked to Alexis, haven’t you?” 

Patrick smirks, raising his eyebrows at David, who glares back at him. As he watches them, Clint is trying not to laugh at the easy way his son turns the tables on David. Patrick catches him watching and gives a little shrug, as though he’s letting him in on the joke. 

That evening, they’re watching the Blue Jays play the Tigers, or at least he and Marcy and Patrick are watching the game. David is sitting sideways on the couch beside Patrick scrolling through his phone. His toes are tucked under Patrick’s leg and Patrick’s arm is draped across David’s bent knees.

Clint thinks that maybe he should offer to have them watch something that they all would enjoy, but David seems content to simply be with Patrick. He suspects the two of them have probably spent many similar evenings like this, the joy of being together allowing the compromise. On second thought, he thinks about the way that they challenge each other. Perhaps David is simply too polite to voice his complaints with himself and Marcy in the room.

“Are you texting Stevie about the store?”

“Mmm hmm. She says we owe her an extra bottle of wine because Roland came in and pestered her about the foot cream for almost an hour.”

He’s so proud of Patrick for creating the business that he has with David. He thinks back to a conversation he and Patrick had had shortly before Patrick had left so suddenly for Schitt’s Creek. They’d been sitting on the back porch after a couple of beers and in a moment of honesty, Patrick had told him how much he hated his job at the local credit union. It makes him wince to think about how he told Patrick that he should value the stability of that job even if he didn’t like it. Two weeks later, Patrick had ignored his advice, instead following his heart to a thriving business and David Rose. 

Beside him, Marcy’s phone buzzes. Over her shoulder he watches her open an email from David and sees more than a dozen photos of Patrick pop up on the screen. There are pictures of Patrick at the store, in his apartment, playing baseball, with his guitar, some with David and some without him. In every single one he’s beaming, joy spilling out from the screen. In each one, he can see the little boy he remembers, the excitement and mischief that he had once thought had faded away shining back at him from his son’s eyes.

He puts his arm around Marcy and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. Part of him wishes that he’d done something differently, something that would have spared Patrick so much unhappiness. But in the end, maybe it doesn’t matter how Patrick came to this place in his life. All that matters is that he’s found David and their store and all the other things that make him happy. It is, Clint thinks, everything he’s always wanted for him.


End file.
